I opened door after door and there were still more locked doors. It was like the number never changed. Suddenly Yachara started walking down the hall in the opposite direction. I sent Bellamy a look and gestured in Yachara's direction before following after her. Where she was headed, I had no idea. But I was following her. She unlocked a door farther down the hall and walked inside. I entered the room and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of the cell's holder.
Anya sat in the corner of the room, in shadow. The room was way darker than the others. "What are you doing?" I asked. Yachara turned and looked at me like she knew I was following her the whole time, let me follower her. "We're taking her with us," she said. Anger boiled inside me. "No," I said, firmly. "She stays here." Just then, Lincoln walked in behind us. He stood next to me with an unreadable expression. Yachara stared at him. "You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" I asked, glancing between them. Lincoln nodded and I became extremely confused. And it wasn't like me to be confused. "Will someone tell me what's going on? Or do I have to beat it out of one of you?" it was quiet for a minute. A silent something passed between him and Yachara. "Anya's your mother," Lincoln told me. I blinked. What? Where'd he get that from? Yachara also had the same expression. I took a step back. "My mother is not Anya," I said, flatly.
"When you were a baby, Anya came to me and told me to get rid of you," he said. "So I took you to the Reapers."
"But Anya's not her mom," Yachara said.
"Then why-"
Anya said, "She's still alive? Can you do anything right, Lincoln? I am not her mother. My sister was." I took another step back and shook my head. Anya is Yachara's aunt. Meaning Anya's sister is her mother. If Anya's saying her sister is my mother, too…I inhaled. My lungs felt like they were going to collapse from holding my breath for so long. "We're twins," Yachara said, looking right at me.
"No," I said. "I don't have a sister. You're all wrong." I turned and left the cell. I started back down the hall, toward the other cells. I could not think of this whole sister mix up right now. There were things to be done to get everyone out of Mount Weather. There was no time for stupid things. I know who I am, where I'm from. I won't question that. There were only a few doors left locked so I used my key card to open one. I pulled open the door and stepped inside. Sitting on the bed, ripping out an IV, sat a petite brunet girl. She looked up at me as she slid off the bed. "Who are you?" she asked.
"Jade," I replied, gesturing to the door. "Let's go."
"We're getting out?" she asked, in disbelief, walking toward the door. I nodded and ushered her into the hallway. Yachara and Finn were ushering people down the hall in one big sea of white clothing. "I'm Raven," the girl said, pulling her eyes away from the group. "Are you a grounder?" I nodded before pushing her into the crowd. "Follow them out!" I had to shout over the noise; the scuffling of feet and murmurs of disbelief. I went to the next door. I unlocked it just as I felt a hand on my shoulder. Instinctively I squirmed away from the contact and turned to see who grabbed me. "You okay?" it was Bellamy. I sighed and opened the door I unlocked. "Sure," I mumbled, stepping inside. I ushered this cell's occupant out into the moving crowd. That was the last locked cell
The next step is getting out. I slinked along the wall until I bumped into Finn and the blonde girl I saw unlocking doors. "Hey," Finn said. "This is Clarke. The girl you asked about." Clarke's mother was just outside, waiting for us. I could only hope she gets to see her again. "This is Jade. She's a friend of Lincoln's," Finn told her. I rose on my toes to see over the crowd. "C'mon, we need to get in front," I said. I slid past them and made my way to the front of the crowd, with Yachara, Lincoln, Alex, and Kane. Finn and Clarke nudged themselves in behind me.
We made our way down the hall to the elevator. There was only one so we sent them down in groups of eighteen—all that would fit. The first load down, we sent Bellamy and Alex with radios to help coordinate the way to the dungeon. The dungeon was three floors below us. So each group would have to travel down three floors. On our third group down, suddenly the elevator made a screeching sound and the lights hummed momentarily. Yachara held the radio to her lips. "What's going on?"
"I think the elevator's stuck!" Jasper's voice came over the radio. He was in the elevator. The small group behind us was starting to get anxious. We had to think, and think fast. But no one knew what to do. I snatched the radio from Yachara, earning a 'what for?' look, and pressed the button on the side. "Alex, where are the elevator controls?" I spoke into it.
"Uh," he said. "On the eleventh floor."
"Someone has to go up there and get it running," Lincoln said.
"Raven and I can go," Yachara said. I nodded and spoke into the radio, "Raven and Yachara are heading up to fix the elevator." Yachara and Raven took off for the stairs and disappeared into the stair well. We waited for what seemed like forever. And then suddenly the elevator started moving and it roared to life. Cheers echoed up the elevator shaft. Once Yachara and Raven rejoined us, we all moved into the elevator. Yachara stayed out of it and shook her head. "I'll take the stairs," she said. It was only then I noticed the blood on her shirt that obviously wasn't hers, and the deep cut on her forearm. I shrugged and pressed the button for the fifth floor. The doors closed and silence set in as it began descending. "So, Jade, how do you know Lincoln?" Clarke asked, stepping up next to me.
"It's a long story that shouldn't be told right now," I said, as the doors opened. I stepped out into a dark, musty-smelling hallway. Small, torch like lights lit the hall where the rest of the group funneled through. Yachara came out of the stair well next to the elevator a second later. I avoided her by wriggling through the crowd to get to the front. I passed Bellamy, who was ushering kids down a set of steps. Most of the kids were pooling just before the exit. Kane was with the ones pooled at the exit. And Clarke wiggled her way through to stand behind me. Suddenly, a shrill scream echoed behind me and I whipped around.
The doorway to the steps was lined with red beams going from one side to the other, keeping us in and them out. On the floor, on my side of the beams, were pieces of flesh and blood and bone. Someone was pushed through. And by the looks of it he wore a red shirt. I quickly averted my gaze from the mess of steaming body parts and looked up. Yachara, Alex, Lincoln, Bellamy, and a handful of kids were all on the other side. "What do we do now?" Finn asked, looking at me and then Yachara. I stepped around the carnage on the floor and got closer to the lasers. I felt the heat they radiated as I became closer to them.
Yachara stepped up to the lasers on her side. "We'll go up and out. You take them and leave as planned," she said. I nodded and she turned, wiggling through the crowd to talk to Lincoln. Suddenly Bellamy came up to the bars. We both stepped closer to the wall so we wouldn't be heard. "You know, Octavia told me to watch out for you. I can't really do that from this side," I said, quietly. He chuckled and leaned into the wall beside him. "Lincoln told me to watch out for you. I can't really do that from this side, either," he said. He blinked, like he remembered something, and then dug into his pocket. He pulled out my mother's necklace.
My hand flew to my neck, wide eyed. It was missing. Where had I lost it? He held it up. "I'm sure we can slip this through the bars somehow…" He stared at the narrow space between the bars. "No," I stopped him. "Keep it for me. You can give it back when we meet up at the Ark." He nodded, looking saddened. He shoved the necklace back into his pocket as the crowd started to move behind him. "May we meet again," he said.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"It's something we said on the Ark," he said.
"May we meet again, then," I said, to which he smiled. His smile didn't quit reach his eyes. I tore my eyes from him and turned to face the group I now led. Suddenly there was a implosion behind the crowd. As the dust started to clear, I could see Abby and Octavia leading people out. I hurried to get to the front of the group and started helping people out as well. I counted everyone as they came out. I had forty-seven, not including Kane, Abby, Clarke, Octavia, or myself. It was pretty much a straight-shot, from here to the Ark. Once everyone was out, I started leading everyone in that direction.